The most recommended books set in Memphis Tennessee

Who picked these books? Meet our 26 experts.

26 authors created a book list connected to Memphis Tennessee, and here are their favorite Memphis Tennessee books.
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Book cover of The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther  King Jr.

Sylvia Brownrigg Author Of The Whole Staggering Mystery: A Story of Fathers Lost and Found

From my list on maddening dads.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been writing books for a while (don’t make me tell you how long), but mostly novels, and mostly not with dads in them. This finally changed around the time my own lovable, unusual dad died in 2018. I knew I had to write about him and figured I would do this in fiction. But when I really dug into the family secrets my dad kept—and discovered details he didn’t know himself until his last years—I knew I’d need to turn to writing a memoir instead. That got me reading and rereading about all the other vivid, maddening dads who were waiting there on my shelves.

Sylvia's book list on maddening dads

Sylvia Brownrigg Why did Sylvia love this book?

I read two great memoirs for a panel I moderated about daughters and fathers. At the event, I enjoyed watching Leslie Absher and Leta McCollough Seletzky meet and realize how much they had in common.

Both authors had dads who kept secrets— big, political secrets. Leta Seletzky’s dad worked as an undercover officer for the Memphis Police Department in the 1960s: he was “The Kneeling Man” in the famous photograph taken after King’s death. 

This may sound odd, but I related to Leta Seletzky’s emotional tale of how she gradually got to know her father, as an adult, by uncovering the many layers of his life story. 

By Leta McCollough Seletzky,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Kneeling Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

BCALA Literary Award Winner

The intimate and heartbreaking story of a Black undercover police officer who famously kneeled by the assassinated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr--and a daughter's quest for the truth about her father

In the famous photograph of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of Memphis's Lorraine Motel, one man kneeled down beside King, trying to staunch the blood from his fatal head wound with a borrowed towel.

This kneeling man was a member of the Invaders, an activist group that was in talks with King in the days leading up to the…


Book cover of The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther  King Jr.

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